The Evidence

Season five of C.S.I. got off to a rocky start with ugly contract
disputes between the show's producers and actors George Eads and Jorja Fox.
However, when the producers summarily fired the two actors who were holding out
for more cash, they came back to the fold pretty quick. Apparently, production
was delayed a bit while this ugliness was ironed out. The delay did not affect
the quality of the show, though, considering the first episode "Viva Las
Vegas" is a tremendous season kickoff. No less than five crimes are
investigated in the season opener. It is quite a step up from the A story/B
story formula we have come to expect.

During season five, Mia Dickerson (Aisha Tyler) becomes a regular DNA
Analyst back at the lab as Greg Sanders (Eric Szmanda) expands his role and gets
out into the field. Of note is the increasing introduction of new characters in
the fifth season (a veiled message to the holdout actors regarding their
expendability?).

Watching the episodes, you may notice right off the bat that there seems to
be more focus on the personal lives of our main characters. C.S.I. (like
that other venerable police procedural Law & Order) mainly consists
of self-contained episodes with virtually no continuing storylines. These
stand-alone episodes make shows like C.S.I. and L&O golden in
syndication as you can program a five-year-old episode back to back with a new
one and no one notices or cares.

It is obvious from the beginning that a decision was made to emphasize
characterization a bit more in this season. Virtually the only character story
lines I recall from earlier seasons are Grissom's (William L. Peterson) hearing
loss and Sara's (Jorja Fox) alcoholism. The first quarter of season five pretty
much follows formula before a big change is dropped on our familiar team in
episode 508, "Mea Culpa." I leave it to the real C.S.I.
aficionados to pass judgment on the success or failure of this new direction.
Just know that while the change doesn't alter the show's fundamental recipe, it
does shuffle character dynamics a bit.

Another milestone reached during season five was the hundredth episode, the
aptly titled "Ch-Ch-Changes." In my opinion, C.S.I. is at its
very best when exploring a marginalized subculture or fetish community. This
hundredth episode takes us into the transgender community with one of the
standout stories of the season. The show's writers continue to push the network
television envelope. Speaking of pushing the envelope, for my money Episode 515,
"King Baby," is one of the single most disconcerting episodes of
C.S.I. that I have seen. It's not gorier or more graphic than storylines
in the past, but it's truly creepy.

One episode that I felt went too far down the characterization road was
Episode 522, "Weeping Willows," which prominently features Willows
(Marg Helgenberger). Through an unusual set of circumstances, she becomes
personally involved with a suspect. I found this a bit distracting. I must
admit, however, that I fall into the less-is-more camp regarding character info
on C.S.I.. I would prefer they just concentrate on the work and not worry
about the personalities involved. Many fans would disagree with me though.

Finally, we have the season's big event—a two-part season finale
helmed by a little known indy director named Quentin Tarantino. There are the
trademark Tarantino touches like the pop culture references and crackerjack
dialogue. This episode also takes the unusual step (again) of involving one of
the characters directly in the crime being investigated. It's a solid finale,
but Tarantino doesn't stray too far from the established formula. Also notable
is the fact that the aforementioned story arc that altered many character
relationships, is resolved in the end. Without giving too much away, it was nice
to finally see Grissom stand up to his superiors.

The DVDs' image quality is outstanding for a TV show. If you're familiar
with C.S.I., you know there is quite a stylized lighting scheme and much
of the action happens in the dark. This is all handled very well, though some of
the dark scenes could have been tweaked a bit to deliver deeper blacks. All in
all, its is a fine transfer. The Dolby 5.1 soundtrack is also a notch above what
I've come to expect from TV on DVD. While mainly front focused, there is a fair
amount of atmospheric sound (especially in busy casino scenes). C.S.I.
has more money to work with than most TV series, and on the technical front, it
shows.

If you like commentaries, then you'll be in heaven with this set. A whopping
nine episodes feature supplementary commentaries by various producers, writers,
directors, and actors. However, you will be disappointed to hear that there is
not a commentary on the Tarantino episodes. I guess Quentin wasn't available.
The existing commentaries run the gamut from producers and writers talking about
storylines and technical information, to actors discussing characters.
Interestingly, mentions of "the delay" by producer Danny Cannon are
the only cryptic references to the contract disputes. I guess it was water under
the bridge by the time commentaries were recorded. If you're a fan of the show,
you'll still find a lot of good information here.

Several featurettes are present including "C.S.I. Season 5: A
Post-Mortem," which gives some interesting insight on the decisions made by
the writers and producers during season five. They also discuss the dilemma of
more versus less character information. It is an interesting look at how
producers assembled the season. "C.S.I.: Tarantino Style" is
essentially a mutual admiration session between Tarantino and the C.S.I.
cast and crew. It's not very illuminating. Tarantino is his typical rapid-fire
self and all involved seemed happy to work together. For the forensics and
accuracy crowd there are two featurettes titled "The Research of C.S.I.:
Maintaining the Accuracy" and "C.S.I.: Forensic Procedures On the
Scene vs. On the Screen." These two featurettes illustrate how
C.S.I. is based in reality and real forensic work.

All in all, we have a pretty well-stocked set here. It'll certainly keep any
C.S.I. junkie busy for many hours.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

Slavish loyalty to a formula makes for a formulaic show. I do think that's
what many viewers expect from episodic series. That's what makes TV the
entertainment version of comfort food. But can't C.S.I's producers come
up with a few scene transitions other than those tired helicopter shots of the
Las Vegas Strip?

Closing Statement

The producers of C.S.I. admirably tried to stir things up a bit in the
fifth season without interfering with what makes the show popular. They met with
mixed success on the character front, but haven't yet run out of inventive ways
to kill people. Top the season off with a Quentin Tarantino-directed finale and
you've got a pretty satisfying collection of episodes.

The Verdict

I go where the evidence takes me. C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation: The
Complete Fifth Season is acquitted based on my in-depth forensic
analysis.

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